Special truck



y 14, 1929- c. M. EASON 1,713,271

' SPECIAL TRUCK Filed Feb. 15; 1926 '8 Sheets-Sheet 1 y'1 1929. c. M. EASON 1,713,271 4 SPECIAL TRUCK Filed Feb 15, 1926 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 61m w we 1 5 y 9- I c. M. EASON 1,713,271

' SPECIAL TRUCK Filed Feb. 15, 1926 A a Sheets-Sheet 3 May 14, M EASON 1,713,271

SPECIAL TRUCK I Filed Feb. 15, 1926 8'Sheets-Sheet 4 Ma a/Kama o i f;.

. (1km nap y c. M. EASON 1.713271 SPECIAL TRUCK Filed Feb. 15, 1926' 8 Sheets-Sheet '7 Zlvuentoz y 14, 1929; M. EASON 1,713,211

I SPECIAL TRUCK Filed Feb. 15, 1926 B'Sheets-Sheet 8 5 i I F r (gaze/122% uy 1M5 Patented May 14, 1929.

.VUN-ITED'" sra'rss PATENT OFFICE.

CLARENCE H. EA SON, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL MOTORS COB- POBATION, OI DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

SPECIAL TRUCK.

Application filed Iebrnary 15, 1926. Serial No. 88,837.

This invention relates to trucks. It is in- I tended rimarily for use in the nitrate fields where oreign matter must be removed b hand as the truck bodies are being loade It is therefore desirable that the bodies be removable from the truck chassis and loaded while on the ground. This renders, more economical, the sorting of the material and the loading of the truck body. It also releases the truck chassis for handling other loaded bodies during the time that any 'one body is being loaded.

The object of the invention is to provide a truck body removable from the truck by power from the truck motor. The mechanism is capable of operation also to raise the load- .ed body from the ground to its normal position on the truck chassis. Among other objects are the provision of mechanism to lock the bodyon the truck, the last named mechanism so associated with the power take off shift lever that the latter cannot be operated when the body is locked. The invention also contemplates the provision of means to automatically restore the power take off to neutral when the body reaches its forward position on the chassis. An interlock is associated with this automatic means to permit the power take off to reach its neutral position without disturbing the forward position of the power take off shift lever, and to prevent a subsequent incorrect use of the power take off shift lever.

Other objects will be understood from the complete description which follows.

In the drawin s, which show what is now considered a pre erred embodiment of the invention,

Figure 1 is a view of the truck in side ele- 'vation, the dotted lines showing the body as it rests on the ground. Fi re 2 is a similar view showing the body tilted to a dumping position.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the rear end of the body in dum ing position. This figure shows a modified orm of tail board release. Figure 4 is a plan view of the chassis with the body removed.

Figure 5 is a side view showing the position of parts when the body is drawn forward and locked to the truck.

Figure 6 is a transverse vertical sectionpower take off ear, showin also the means to automatical y restore t e gearing into neutral.

1 Figure 10 is .a side'elevation of the inter- Figure 10 is a side elevation of the outer plczlite of the interlock looked at'from the ins1 e. t

Figure 11 is an end view of the interlock. Figure 12 is a side view, of the body lockmg mechanism.

Figure 13 is a vertical sectiona1 view of one of the guide rollers. I

Figure 14 is a plan view of theresilient mounting for one of the power take off shafts.

Figure 15 is a view in side elevation; partly in section, of mechanism associated with the driven rollers.

Figure 16 is a section on line 1616 of Figure 4.

I Figure 17 is a longitudinal, vertical section through the take off gearing.

Flgure 18 is a perspective of the front end of a body skid. i

Figure 19 is a rear elevation of a resilient mem or to hold down the skid.

Figure 20 is a sectional detail on line 20-20 of Flgure 19.

Flgure 21 is a plan of the resilient bumper carried by the body.

Figure 22 is a View of the same in vertical section;

Referring by reference characters to the drawings, numeral 1 represents the standard truck chassis. llhis may be a standard G. M. C. five ton chassis. In making this special truck, therear end of the frame is 'cut off and mechanism is added by which the body is manipulated.

Above the standard transmission case is bolted a power take off transmission 3, arranged to drive a; forwardly extending shaft 5 and a rearwardly extending shaft 7. The power take 011? gearing is provided to give a forward, a neutral and reverse position by which the driven shafts may be rotated in either direction or be not driven. The speed of the two driven shafts is obviously the same.

The transmission gearing represented at 2 is substantially conventional and is not described in detail inasmuch as it is not a part of this invention. It includes a gear 4 which, when the take off unit 3 is bolted in position, engages a gear 6 rotatably mounted in the said take off unit. This gear 6 is in engagement with an idler gear 8. Gear 10 is rigid with but spaced from gear 6. Shafts 5 and 7 are formed integrally with spline shaft -28 within the take off unit 3, and upon shaft 28 is slidably mounted a gear 30 engageable with either gear 8 or gear 10 to give opposite directions of rotation to the shafts 5 and 7 in a manner which will be obvious. Figure 17 shows the shiftable gear in neutral position. The movements of gear 30 are affected in much the usual way by fork 32 carried by slidable rod 34, the

movements of the fork are communicated to irreversible worm gearing by which the winch is driven, to let down the body as slowly as desired, or to hold it in any desired position, the irreversible gearing being capable of holdin the body in-any position.

he rear shaft 7 is extended through universal joints and a yielding support 18 to ahousing 20 within which 1t is geared by a worm 36 and gear 38 to drive a cross shaft 21 (see Figure 15) upon the ends of which are sprockets 23 as shown by Figure 4. These sprockets 23 drive by means of chains 24, other sprockets 25 on driven rollers 27 rotatable on the ends of the shaft 29 extending transversely of the frame, as shown in Figure 16. The shaft 29 is carried by brackets 31 extending from the rear ends of the frame, these brackets may be extended downwardly and formed with eyes 40 formounting spring shackles 44. Braces 33 are connected to the ends of shaft 29 and to a transverse channel member 46 secured to the side frame members and positioned above housing 20. Also rothe brace 33 and keyed thereto, is tubular shaft 37 as shown in Figure 13; Rotatable about each shaft 37 is a guide roller 39 and above the roller 39 is a hook engaging knob 41 mounted to slide vertically on the end of shaft 37 and to be resiliently held under the action of a spring 43, spring 43 engages at its lower end an abutment 48 on the rod. 50 secured to and extended downwardly from knob 41 through tubular shaft At its u per end the spring engages a plug 52 threade into the upper end of shaft 37. This member 41 engages a hook 42 mounted onthe side of the body skid frame 47, when the truck body is in its normal position on the chassis.

Considering now the truck body 45, it will be seen that it is mounted on skids 47, which travel over driven rollers 27 and over other idle rollers 49, carried by the frame, a plurality of such rollers being used as shown in the drawing, the roller being of any preferred form. At its front end the skid, which carries the body, is formed into a nose 51. under the end of which, and through an opening in which, the cable from the winch passes. A spring 53 may be attached to the end of the cable and to a hook 55 on the skid. This sprin is of importance in that it takes up slack 1n the cable which occurs when the body tilts from the position shown in Figure 2 to its normal position resting on the chassis.

On the rear end of the body skid is a bumper. This bumper is an elongated tubular member 57 having end members 59 slidable along the skid frame. These members engage the ends of a leaf spring 61 centrally secured to a cross member 63. As the end of the body strikes the ground or an abutment,

when tilted for dumping, the spring takes the shock and prevents damage to the truck body or truck.

Figure 2 shows a tail board 82 pivoted at 84 to thebody 45. A latch 86 engages a cooperating part on the tail board. A suitable link 88 connects the latch with a crank arm 90 connected to a manually operable lever, notshown. As a modified form, Figure 3 shows a similar tail board 82. A latch 86 is held by a spring 92 to normally keep the body closed by the tail board. The latch 86' has-an arm 88' positioned to engage an abutment 94 and release the tail, board when the 7 body and skid is moved to a position adjacent said abutment. A yielding-contact between the body and the abutment is had by the bumper 5 Y I On the truck there is a skid lock 65 pivoted at 67. An operating lever 69. adjacent the drivers seat, operates by means of the link 71 and a bell crank 73, the skid lock 65 to engage and release the latter from the skid nose.

Near lever 69 isa power take off shift lever v 75 which is connected by a link 79 and an interlock, to bedescribed later, to the power take ofi gearing in order to shift the latter to forward, neutral or reverse. Figs. 7, 8

and 9, together with Figure 5, illustrate several steps in the operation. In Figure 7 the body is being lifted from the ground and being drawn-up on the truck. The skid lock.

lever 69 is in the unlocking position. The

power take-oil shift lever 75 is in forward position. v The winch is pulling by means of the cable as the arrow shows. There is shown in this re a power take oli'throw out lever 83. This lever may have. a'lateral pivotal nection with lever 87 the latter may swing about pivot 89. At its lower end lever 87 is connected bya link 93 with a sleeve 91 which is slidably mounted on a link 105 which is connected to the power take off gearing mecha-. nism b a yoke 95 and a lever 97. A spring 84 hol the levers 83 and 87 in retracted position as in Fi re 7 Lever 97 is nivotall y 107 is a plate 111. Movab connected to the shift rod 32 as shown in Fi re 17.

igure 8 illustrates a second position. In this figure the nose. of the body skid has reached the lever 83. It will be seen that any further forward movement of the skid will swing the lever 88. Turning now to Figure 5 it. will be observed that the skid has swung the lever. In so doing link 93 has pushed sleeve 91 against yoke 95 and lever 97 'has shifted the power take off gearing into neutral and this without moving the power take oi! shift lever 75 because of the interlock as will be explained below. To look the skid on the truck, the operator has pulled back upon lever 69 thus raising the skid lock 65 so that it engages the skid behind the skid nose 51 and locks the skid from reverse motion. In doa ing so he has moved a pin 81 on lever 69 to a ed to a centrally arch point immediately to the rear of lever 75. This prevents the lever 57 being moved to its 'tion of neutral or reverse, while the ski is lockedto the truck.

Figure 9 shows the positions of the parts when the operator is driving the skid with the body rearwardly along the chassis as for dumping or dropping it to the ground. Here the skid'has first been unlocked by its lever 69. This moves the pin 81 away from lever 75 so that lever 75 may shift the power take of! gearing into reverse. Figure 9 shows the lever 75 to have been so moved. In so moving the rod 105 has been reciprocated through sleeve 91. Spring 84 has swung levers 83 and 87 back from the position of Figure 5 to that of Figure 7.

Two parallel rearwardly extending channel members 99 (see Figure 19) are connectmember 101. spring connected as at 103 to upright members 102 of anysuitable .form carried by the frame. As the skid approaches its normal position on the chassis, it is resiliently held between the channel members 99 and the skid lock by springs 103 and another spring member 104 located between the bell crank 7 3 and the skid lock, as best shown in Figure 12. This yielding arrangement holds the nose of the skid yieldingly and is of considerable assistance in the removal of the skid, making it more easy for the driven rollers to function as drivers and not to rotate under the skidwhen.

mechanism to'the interlock, is the'link 105.

Fi res 10, 10 and 11 illustrate this interloc Extendin downwardly from the frame is a flat p ate 107, slidably mounted against this plate is the plate 109. This ate member 109 is connected to the link 9. Parallelywith and spaced from plate elin the space between plates 109 and 111 is a bar118square in cross section, whichbar is connected to link 105. At its end, the bar 113 carries a pin 115, which projects from bothlateral faces of the bar 113. This pin enters'an L shaped slot 117 of bar 109. The vertical part of this'slot is representedby numeral 119 andthe horizontal part by numeral 120. The opposite end of the pin enters-labyrinth slot 121 In plate 111 shown in Figure 10. The plate 107 has a notch cut into ita end at 123 to receive a limiting pin 125 carried by plate 109. When the power take off gearing is in forward position, as in Figure 7, the pm 115. I

will be at the right hand end of theinterlock. When the power take off gearing is in reverse pin 115 will be at the left hand end "of the interlock. Assumingthe in to be in its, re-' 3 verse osition at the left and end, the vertical s ot 119 of bar 109 will also be at the left hand end of the interlock. The in will be at the lowermost part of the la yrinth slot and the vertical slot due to the action of the flat spring 127 pressing down upon the forward end of the bar 113. A forward movement of bar 109 now draws the pin 115 and the bar 113 forward. In such movement the pin rises vertically in the slot 119 and along the lower run of slot 121 until it reaches its forward position. Up to the time when the skid en ages lever 83 and automatically re-' stores t e power take off to neutral, the opthe pin 115 back fromthis forward position to the neutral position shown in Fi are 10 without disturbin the plate 109 or t e shift lever. This will e seen to be possible because of the horizontal portion 120 of the L shaped slot. It will also be seen that in this position, because of the pin 125, the shift ever is unable to restore the power take ofi gearing to forward without first going through reverse. In order to reach reverse,

the shift lever must first be moved so that its vertical slot 119 reaches the mid-position operation may be described. Startin 4 p of the interlock and this action .can take place only when the skid lock is released. When the verticalslot 119 reaches themid position, the pin lla'drops down through the action of spring 127, both in the labyrinth leased, the cable is' manually withdrawn from the winch and connected to the front end of the skid. The power take off shift lever is placed in forward position, the master clutch is engaged, and the winch clutchll is operated to lock the winch to the shaft. The action of the winch is then to wind the? cable and draw up the body from the ground to'thechassis. The skid en ges the guide rollers 39 and 49. When the s id nose reaches the throw out lever 87 it operates this lever to throw the power take ofi mechanism into neutral. This is without effect upon the position of the power take off shift lever 75 due to the presence of the interlock. Moreover, the action in restoring the' ower take. off 'toneutral cannot be carried urther and move it into reverse because the pin 115 strikes the end of the upper channel of the labyrinth slot. The operator then, through his lever 69, actuates the skid look. This action prevents the power take off lever being moved from its forward position into neutral or reverse.

The body now locked in position by the skid lock, is driven to a position where its load is to be dumped, as intoa car. For this purpose the usual truck brakes are locked, the skid lock 65 released and the power take off driven in reverse. This action "feeds the cable from the winch and simultaneousl rotates the driven rollers 27 and the truck body assumes a position as in Figure 2.' The tail board may then be released, either manually, as suggested by Figure 2, or automatically, as is shown in Figure 3. In the act of reversing, it will be understood that the power take off shift lever 7 5 is first moved sufficiently to bring the vertical. slot into the mid position of the interlock. This part of its movement has no effect upon the power take ofigearing. The further movement of the lever carries the pin to the left end of the interlock where the gearing is placed in reverse. In returning the body to the truck,

1 the power take off gearin .is placed in forward position and the be y is drawn up on the truck and looked as before. When the ating bod is to be left on the ground for another loa the action is similar to that des ribed.

for dumping. When the end of the 'd engages the ground, the power take off should 3 at once he placed in neutral, and the winch clutch 11 re eased. The truck is then driven forward in low out from under .the front end of the body. The winch drum brake 17 may be applied as the fI'ODt'BDd of the body drops from the chassis to the ground. The cable '-is then disconnected from-the skid be hooked up to another loaded body.

I claim:

power take off gearing including an interlock, an automatic throw-out to restore the gearing to neutral, the interlock functioning to permit such action without movement of the power take off shift lever.

. 2. A truck chassis, a body movable to and from the chassis, means for locking the body to the chassis, gearing to move the body to and from its position on the chassis, a shift lever with interlocking connection for operthe earing, a throw-out lever actuated by t e bo y as it reaches its position'on the chassis to restore the gearing to neutral, the

through the interlocking connection to permit such gear shift without movement of the shift lever.

3. A truck chassis, a body movable to and from the chassis, means for locking the body to the chassis, a lever to actuate the lock, power take off gearing to move said body, a

shift lever therefor, means associated with said body locking lever when in looking position to prevent the actuation of the shift lever. 4. A truck chassis, a forward and .reverse power take off gearing, a simultaneously operable cable winch and driving rollers driven thereby, whereby a body may be drawn. upon the chassis or rolled off therefrom respectively.

5. A truck chassis, a body movable to and from the chassis, power take off gearing and may action of the throw-out lever functioning therefor, a simultaneously operable cable j winch and rollers driven thereby, whereby the body is moved on and oil the .truck chassis respectively, a clutch and brake operable upon the which, the parts being dimensioned so that the peripheral speed of the'rollers is the same as that of the cable, whereby the two driven devices may be driven in unison when the body is being drawn upon or rolled from. the chassis.

' 6. A truck chassis, a bodymember movable-on or off said chassis, means engaged by opposite faces of the body member as the member reaches its normal position on the er for guiding the body in its movements, a

spring controlled knob member positioned reaches its normal above the roller and a hook onthe bod engageable with raid knob when .the ody osition. I

8. A truck chassls, a body movable along the chassis, means driven by truck motor to move said body, means automatically throwing out said ower driven means when the body reaches its normal position, said throwout means comprising a lever rotatable on a transverse axis, and carryin a longitudinal pin, a throw-out lever pivoted on said in for transverse swinging and engageable with the body to swing with the first mentioned lever about the transverse axis, a connection between the said mechanism and the power take off gearing to restore the'latter to neutral Edam the throw-out lever is engaged by the 9. The combination as set forthin claim 8, said connection being a lever pivoted to the first mentioned lever, and mounted for independent movement under the actuation of the power take ofi gearing by other than the automatic means.

10. A truck chassis, a body movable to and from the chassis, a winch on the chassis, carrying a cable for moving the body upon the chassis and accommodating the movement of the body in its reverse direction of movement, independent means to move the body in the reverse direction, gearing operable rom the chassis motor to rotate said winch, the gearing including an irreversible worm gear and a c utch, whereby the bod may be let down as slowly as desired or he (1 in any intermediate position.

11. A truck chassis, reversible gearing thereon, a manually operable lever for manipulatmg said gearing to forward, neutral and reverse position other means operable to shift said gearing rom forward to neutral without affecting the position of the lever.

12. A gear operating mechanism comprising a sliding plate with an L shaped slot, a cooperating bar with a transverse pin, and a fixed plate with a labyrinth slot, the pin cooperating with said slots, the shape of the labyrinth slot being such as to cooperate with the horizontal part of the L slot to permit the pin being drawn to an intermediate osition without movement of the sliding p ate.

'13. A power take ofi gearing, an operatin lever, a connection including an interloc therebetween, the interlock comprising a bar having a cross pin, a fixed plate with a labyrinth'slot and a sliding plate having an L shaped slot for connection with the operating lever, the relation of the pin and slots being such as to permit a neutral position of the power take off gearing to be obtained without moving the operating'lever and the sliding plate, and means associated with the sliding plate whereby it may not thereafter restore the gearing to forward without first going through reverse.

14. A supporting member, a supported member movable thereon, earing on the suporting member to move t e supported memer, a lever, linkage including an interlock to actuate said gearin means automatically actuated by the movable member to engage said linkage to position said gearing into neutral, said interlock comprising an association of slots and a pin operable to permit the automatic means to position said gearing in neutral from which position the lever can only move the gearing to forward after passing through reverse.

In testimony whereof I afiixmy signature.

- CLARENCE M. EASON. 

